National Pi Day • March 14 • pi 3.14...

About

Why Pi?

Pi is the king of mathematical constants worldwide. Mathematically, pi is the number of times a circle's diameter will fit around its circumference.

Pi is never-ending. It is irrational and a series that is non-repeating. It can never fully be realized, which is why many believe it to be the most intriguing number in all of mathematics. Pi now has over 10 trillion known digits, which would take a person roughly 316,887 years to recite without stopping, at one digit per second In 1949, it took ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) 70 hours to calculate 2,037 decimal places of pi.

If the circumference of the earth were calculated using pi rounded to only the 9th decimal place, an error of no more than one quarter of an inch in 25,000 miles would result.

Exploratorium

Come visit the festivities at the Exploratorium - Free admission on 3/14

During the famed O.J. Simpson trial, there were arguments between defense attorney Robert Blasier and an FBI agent about the actual value of pi, seemingly to reveal flaws in the FBI agent's intellectual acumen. (Blatner)

One slice of a 14" Domino's Extravaganza Feast Pizza with Classic Hand-Tossed Crust has 3.14 grams of Ash.

History

Fun Facts

Over 4,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians calculated the area of a circle using a formula [(8d)/9]2 where 'd' is the diameter of the circle. This formula gives an approximate pi value of 3.1605.

By the year 1701, the first 100 digits of pi had been calculated. Welshman William Jones was the first to use the Greek letter pi (?) in 1706.

In 1949, it took ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) 70 hours to calculate 2,037 decimal places of pi.

In 1988, the San Francisco Exploratorium was the first to hold a Pi Day Celebration. The year 2012 will be the 25th Pi-Annual Event! Now-retired physicist Larry Shaw founded Pi Day.

In 2005, Google offered exactly 14,159,265 shares of stock; this is the first 8 digits of pi minus the 3., or pi after the decimal point. (Google)

At the end of 2005, Chao Lu of China holds the world record for most digits memorized with 67,890; it took him 24 hours and 4 minutes to recite them.

On Pi Day 2010, The Google doodle banner celebrated pi.

Many countries do not get to officially celebrate Pi Day. Their dates are written in their calendars as Day Month Year (ex. March 14, 2011 = 14 March 2011).
They do still celebrate Pi Day, and also Pi Approximation Day (July 22nd).

Stay tuned. Details will be posted after pi day

National Pi Day

In 2009, the United States House of Representatives declared March 14 (3.14) to be National Pi Day. They passed resolution HR 224 to celebrate the importance of math, science, and education in our lives.

Through its promotion of National Pi Day, piZone.org seeks to simply alert the public to the importance of a strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education as a vehicle that inspires future innovation in the upcoming generation.

Pi Day is now celebrated throughout the world, even in countries that don't list the month and day in that order. The official Pi Day celebrations begin at 1:59 (ideally at 26 secs).

Details will be posted on pi day

piZone.org supports this dynamic one day Pi art display with Pi-centric website highlighting the value and importance of science and math in the innovative, tech-focused, geek-celebrated Bay Area. An artistic presentation of sky calligraphy, called Pi in the Sky, the world's largest ephemeral art installation, occurred on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 . At 10,000 feet above the skies of the San Francisco Bay Area, five synchronized skywriting planes drew the first 1000 digits of the infinite sequence of pi (p) – the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The event was a community-building civic art experience, yet it also underscored the importance of math and science in our lives.

Pi Jumble:

Crossword

Pi Word Search:

TP Roll

Follow this demo, which easily shows how, pi multiplied by the diameter equals the circumference

To enhance your pi-experience

To keep with the pi theme, all food should be round. Don't worry—there's plenty of round food out there: fruits, vegetables, etc.

Pi Snacks:

Keep it light and serve round fruits and vegetables with dips. Suggestions: cucumbers, carrots, olives, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, kiwi, watermelon, and cantaloupe balls. You could also have round tortilla chips and salsa. Provide a can of whipped cream and instruct students to decorate their plates and their food with whipped cream in the shape of p. Also, tortillas and pitas with dips make great pi snacks.

Pi-zza:

Order pi-zzas and request that the restaurant decorate with p using the most common topping, pepperoni. A plus—pepperoni is round! Or order cheese pizzas with pepperoni on the side. Students can then decorate their own pi-zzas with 3.14… and p.

Pi-es (and other desserts):

Make pies in the classroom using graham cracker crusts, premade pudding tubs, and a can of whipped cream. Students can decorate their own mini-pies with the whipped cream. Or bring in a variety of pies, and have a Pi Pie Day p Bake a pi cake using a p tin.

I Spy Pi:

Teachers select objects of a certain size and shape (e.g. cup, cylinder) and hide these objects around the room. Give students instructions to find items of a certain size for example, items with a 12-inch circumference. Students then determine what diameter said item would have and go on a "pi hunt". In this example, they'd be looking for items with a diameter of approximately 4 inches. The diameter times pi (3.14…) would equal the given circumference. Example: Hide nickels around the room and instruct students to find round objects with a circumference of 6 cm. First, they'd calculate that said item would have a diameter of roughly 2 cm (dividing 6 cm/3.14…). Then they'd look for nickels!